Summary: I wrote Allister Banks and the Ruby Blade (An Adventure Finance Tale) to entertain kids and provide them with a financial education they may not otherwise receive.

There are moments in life when you’re confronted with a big idea. My big idea was this book. It gripped me tight and wouldn’t let go.

In mid-2016, I came across something that floored me. I read an article that stated 66 percent of American adults didn’t understand the concept of compounding—which basically means earning interest on interest. It dawned on me that these people simply hadn’t been taught this very important financial principle when they were younger.

This was alarming to me—because compounding is the path to true wealth—and it caused me to wonder what the state of financial education was for kids in the United States at the time. So I did some digging. Unfortunately, what I found was disheartening:

• Many parents were waiting too long to teach their kids about finance, not covering the topics they needed to or not addressing the subject at all. Additionally, a large percentage of parents exhibited significant gaps in financial knowledge themselves.
• Only seventeen states required high school students to take a course in personal finance.
• Finally, in my opinion, the personal finance books for kids on the market weren’t cutting it. They were either too limited in scope, too difficult to understand, or too boring.

These findings led me to a demoralizing conclusion: we didn’t have an effective, comprehensive, and engaging way to teach personal finance to kids in the United States.

What a shame! This meant many kids were not going to be prepared for the harsh financial realities of the world as adults. What was going to happen to these kids when they graduated high school? Or turned eighteen and were legally allowed to get a credit card, take on debt, and sign contracts? How could this lack of financial education not lead to huge student loans, suffocating debt payments, and years of pain? It was infuriating.

But one sunny day (I was in Arizona, after all), I realized there was a better way to teach kids about finance: write an engaging novel with a fun plotline that taught financial principles along the way.

However, this book couldn’t exist just to teach finance. First and foremost, it had to entertain the kids reading it. It had to be so compelling they couldn’t put it down. In this way, kids would have a reason to read this book beyond simply learning finance.

Finally, the financial concepts taught in the book had to be practical, simple, and to the point so as not to lose readers. To that end, I have addressed only the most important financial principles in this book.

I knew I could distinguish this book from the many others out there. I felt I was uniquely suited to write it as well. I grew up on the rollicking adventure stories of the eighties and nineties, and from a young age, I had a passion for finance and investing. I had parents who drilled into my head sound financial principles and then lived them.

As a youth, I sought opportunities to earn money, and when I did, I enjoyed squirreling it away. I completed an MBA with a focus on finance. I held various finance-related jobs. On top of that, I’ve studied finance and investing on my own for thousands of hours over the past decade. Finally, I was a father of four children who gave me endless fodder for a kid’s book. I knew the financial principles I wanted my kids to learn before they left the nest, and I knew what they were capable of understanding.

A short time later, I began this book. Surprisingly, once I started writing, it took on a life of its own. What started out small eventually grew into an adventure of epic proportions. There were definitely detours along the way, but I knew what I had to do and why I was doing it. Lastly, I was driven to finish the book. There’s no other way to say it.

Now that I’m nearing the end, I’ve had a chance to step back and look at it with different eyes. My verdict is this: while far from perfect, I believe Allister Banks and the Ruby Blade can actually benefit people’s lives for good.

My goal with this book is that no kid gets left behind when it comes to financial education. Learning and living correct financial principles is empowering, liberating, important . . . and, dare I say, fun?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my book. If you enjoyed it, I hope you share it with someone you care about.

Would you like to learn more about this adventure finance tale?